Mobile food pantry brings free drive-thru groceries to Jamestown Tuesday

Free groceries will be available to Jamestown households Tuesday afternoon as Great Plains Food Bank brings its mobile pantry to Temple Baptist Church, 1200 12th Ave. NE, from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. No preregistration is required, and everyone is welcome to receive food at no cost.

The drive-thru setup is designed to keep the process simple and private. People remain in their vehicles while volunteers place food directly into each car, a format that can make the distribution easier for families juggling rising grocery bills, a temporary loss of income or other short-term financial strain. For Stutsman County residents, the stop gives local households a low-barrier way to put food on the table without a long wait or extra paperwork.

Jamestown is one of two North Dakota communities set to receive food from the mobile pantry that day. Valley City will host an earlier distribution from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 680 8th Ave. SW. Together, the two stops reflect the role the region plays in Great Plains Food Bank’s outreach across North Dakota and nearby Clay County, Minnesota.

Great Plains Food Bank says its mobile pantry reaches nearly 70 communities each quarter, with 37% of the people it serves each year living in rural communities and another 23% living in small towns. That rural footprint helps explain why a stop in Jamestown matters beyond one church parking lot. In Stutsman County, where Jamestown serves as the main service center for surrounding towns and farms, a single afternoon distribution can carry weight for households that do not have easy access to larger food resources.

The need is not small. Feeding America estimated that 9.9% of North Dakota residents were food insecure in 2023. Great Plains Food Bank’s 2024 annual report said the organization distributed nearly 16 million pounds of food, equal to more than 13.5 million meals, and that its mobile food pantry alone delivered more than 739,000 pounds into rural areas. The organization also reported that 156,479 people turned to it and its partner network in 2023, a record high at the time.

Great Plains Food Bank says it is North Dakota’s only food bank and works with nearly 200 partner pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. Along with mobile food pantries, its services include pop-up distributions, partner food pantries, SNAP outreach, senior food packs, backpack programs and youth summer meals. For Jamestown families who need help now and may need more support later, Tuesday’s stop is part of a broader safety net already built into the region.